Collective Ethical Patience and Problem Solving in a Capitalist Society (repost)
It can at times be very difficult to retain an ethical view of the world when the wealthy and privileged, on both the left and the right, are open when being complete jerks. And those wealthy, on both the left and the right, never lose face or their social standing by being jerks. However, that is precisely why we cannot hold it against them. The blind allegiance and the faithful towards those with wealth is the same poison that runs through the thoughts of the wealthy themselves. The real enemy is capitalism. It is the social constructs that are so eminently pervasive that most of us will internalize those negative messages and begin to see ourselves the way it is all centrally insinuated that we should see ourselves as. Money is the problem. People can grow. People can learn to do better, given a better environment and more healthy living outcomes.
I realize that sounds counterintuitive and not what most people want to hear, but it is a simple fact that given the selection between a post-capitalist society and a hyper-capitalist society, people born into and living within a post-capitalist society will significantly decrease negative social messaging out into the subconscious signature of the greater collective. With that in mind, we, as ethical beings, must practice an extreme form of patience to get anywhere when it comes to problem solving, on both the immediately local scale, such as family or one’s community, or a larger scale that extends beyond one’s community, such a position in which one is responsible for instructing the next generation.
It will take time, if it will happen at all. If we want it to happen, it will take time. Radical empathy cannot be just for the disadvantaged. That is easy. We have the see the wealthy as victims of capitalism as well.
Ethical patience, as I wrote about from the perspective of science fiction, is not an abstraction. It does indeed go against everything we were taught about the civil rights movement. That is, at least, on the surface against the backdrop of how popular culture thinks about civil rights. How long shall we wait? That is the ageless question. I agree with that sentiment, wholeheartedly, but what I am attempting to communicate is a place of sociological entry that is not unlike asceticism. Endurance for the benefit of those would do nothing to benefit you is also part of the civil rights movement. It is a rather ancient idea that has been woven into multiple faiths, religions, and philosophies. There is something worth considering with an enduring patience, no matter the personal cost.
Let me stress, this sense of self-sacrifice is not what I am advocating as being a better change agent than other methods. I do, however, believe there is another perception that can be gained from the long, long suffering in myriad ways which we endure injustice for the sake of the unjust, with equal passion as we would position ourselves in to become victims of injustice on behalf of others who have been subject to injustice. Ethical patience does have ability to counter the weight of mis-balanced power. Within that space there lies a gained perspective of seeing the world through a cosmic manner of adroit willingness, in the absence of misdirecting passions.
Change may come faster and farther through other means, but I do think there is something to be gained through ethical patience. Though I would also say this does not apply when physical harm is coming to innocent people and our collective inaction only furthers this indoctrination. That is not ethical patience. That is carelessness. It is not my intention to be esoteric and I do not believe I am spelling out anything that cannot be easily grasped. Action is not dismissed under a perspective of ethical patience. This is one of the early lessons of conflict resolution. Action, in fact, is the entire point. However, reactionary thinking in response to reactionary behavior will benefit very few and is unlikely to have lasting endurance.